Of course bigger does make it better and I think the single player game was about 10 hours which, considering it is very similar throughout, it is testament to how engaging it is that it never gets boring. I still didn't find it particularly hard but I do think it was a little tougher at times than the first game – the makers said the focus was to make the game bigger but not necessarily harder and they did do that. There are also laser and other new things but rest assured that the trusty companion cubes remain. Also in addition to the varied locations we also have substances added which have particular properties and play a role in solving puzzles – these also serve to break up the 'routine' of knowing where to put the portals and makes for some nice puzzles. At times it is too easy to solve puzzles by simply observing the room and recognising the process rather than solving the puzzle, the change in location made me have to pay attention more.

These areas tend to be more broken down and the differences in them does serve to rather break you out of autopilot to a point. The single player game takes you through the same sort of test rooms as before but plot developments see you exploring different areas in the facility as well. It is hard to describe but fans of the first game will know the style of humour at play here and indeed fans of Stephen Merchant should also know, since he is doing his usual stuff here (most notably like he did in Extras – the cheerful numpty). At first Wheatley (voiced by Stephen Merchant) is your guide and he is hilarious and he makes the introductory levels a lot of fun to play with his comments and advice: this is a game that tells you which button is 'jump' by getting you to push in to 'speak' and then judging your character for jumping. Here there is no such problem because while I was already familiar with the ideas I was being introduced to, I was not familiar with Wheatley. This is normal with sequels because the makers cannot assume players are familiar already but at the same time have to try not to bore old hands who have seen this all before. The game begins the same as the first one did, with levels that introduce you to the world of portals gradually so that you get the basics before the puzzles start getting a bit harder. True to form, Portal 2 does not disappoint and everything good about the first game is present, polished and improved here – well, pretty much everything. I decided to jump into Portal 2 recently on the basis of enjoying the first game so much. It was only recently that I discovered what has been public knowledge for a long time – that Portal is a great game.

Should i play portal 1 before portal 2